More than 8,000 migrants have come to the Catholic Charities Respite Centre in McAllen so far in October.
Of those, more than 2,000 migrants have family members with them.
These families have not been separated after crossing the border, as some have been in the past, and the American Civil Liberties Union hopes to keep it that way.
On Monday, the Biden administration struck a deal with the ACLU to keep migrant families together at all times – unless there’s an extreme situation like someone committing a crime.
“At the end of the day, these are innocent children who just want to be with their parents,” said Harlingen-based immigration attorney Susana Silva.
If approved, the settlement would call for temporary protection from deportation for families separated at the border in the past and faster access to work permits.
“Some parents are in hiding,” Silva said. “Other parents, even though they’ve tried to contact them in the past, have moved, changed phone numbers – that’s why we still have hundreds of children who are separated.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security, nearly a thousand children are waiting to be reunited with their parents after crossing the border between 2017 and 2021.
The deal will provide access to lawyers to help migrants apply for asylum. It would also waive the one-year deadline that people have to wait to apply.
Although it’s not a solution, Silva says it’s a step in the right direction.
The settlement still needs to be approved by a federal judge.
